To Even the Score
by Beautiful Tenshi
Summary: Of the three Disciplinary Committee members, only Fujin has a GF. However, this was not always the case...as Raijin can attest. What does Squall's fight with Seifer have to do with it?


Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII or any of its characters or settings used here.

Notes: I came up with this one morning when I realized you can draw Pandemona from Fujin (her name literally translates to wind), but not Quezacotl from Raijin (thunder). I hope you all enjoy reading it!

**************

Raijin was not a morning person by any means.

It was a surprise then, Fujin thought, to find him tearing apart his room when the sun had barely risen above the horizon.

"Ah, Fujin have you seen my...GF anywhere?" Raijin asked distractedly, as he looked around the room for a Guardian Force that clearly wasn't there. "Negative." Was the young woman's curt reply, as she regarded him with a touch more concern than usual. "I can't imagine where I left it, ya know?" he continued, kneeling to look under his bed. A knock sounded at the door, and Fujin turned to face a slightly annoyed Seifer.

"Hey, what's with you two? We were supposed to be on morning patrol ten minutes ago." Fujin looked back at Raijin who was halfway under the bed, rummaging through everything he had kicked under it hours before. "Crisis," she replied wryly.

"Ah it ain't here!" Raijin grumbled, pulling himself back out from under the bed. He was too quick to stand up, however, and hit his head on the bottom of the bed frame. Groaning in pain, he stood up to face the two of them. Seifer folded his arms and gave him a calculating look. "...What's up?"

"I lost my GF!"

"And you thought it would be under the _bed_?"

"Yeah! It's a tricky creature, ya know?"

"Maybe. But it's still a big frickin' _bird_. How would it get under your bed?"

"I dunno, but this ain't the first time it disappeared!"

Seifer stared at him for a long minute and then shook his head. "Whatever. You won't need it for patrol, and if you do, Fujin can just use hers. Let's go. I don't want any of the SeeD candidates thinking they run the place just because they're close to exam time. There's one in particular I have my eye on..."

**************

Sitting down with her usual cup of coffee, instructor Quistis Trepe logged into the Garden Network to read her email. Skipping past the first few daily fan letters from the Treppies, she double-clicked a message from Xu. She chuckled into the rim of her mug as soon as she read the first few sentences.

_Raijin lost his GF again. This is the second time I've found Quezacotl flying over the trees in the Quad, scaring the underclassmen half to death. For a member of the Disciplinary Committee, he's not very disciplined at keeping the creature. I'm sending it to you, as a digital conversion. I'm sure you'll think of something to do with it until he learns his lesson._

An idea already coming to mind, Quistis set her mug back down on the table, and looked around at the students filing through to their seats. She noticed that a certain brunette was missing. Squall was known to be the first one in class and the last to leave, so there could only be one explanation. The Disciplinary Committee was giving him trouble again. This would be the perfect chance to solve two problems at once.

Opening the file transfer program on the network, Quistis logged in as the administrator and began to upload the attachment Xu had sent. She had originally intended to only give one GF to her star pupil, but perhaps he would gain good experience at handling two. He certainly learned quickly enough.

As soon as the status bar reached the far right of the screen, Quistis logged off the system and looked up once again to view her class. All students were present and accounted for; all but two. Shaking her head ruefully, she stood up and headed for the door. Hopefully, she would only have to go as far as the training center to find them this time.

**************

"Tch...bastard. What makes him think...he has the right...to attack like that?" Squall growled to himself, as he trudged painfully through the front gate, a hand held to his head. Seifer had cast fire in a fair fight, and Squall was positive the Committee member had known he had only a gunblade to spar with. "...I'll get him...next tiiime. Ugh." His legs finally giving out from the intense strain the battle had put on his body, Squall collapsed in the middle of the hallway. Several members of SeeD that had been talking in front of the school directory rushed to his side, lifting him between them to begin a slow walk toward the infirmary.

Seifer walked stiffly in afterward, still trying to fight off the arms Fujin and Raijin offered to help support him. "I'm fine, alright?! It's nothing!"

"Brave." Fujin said admiringly, but with no less worry in her eyes. "He hit you pretty hard, ya know?" Raijin added, emphasizing his point with a wave of his arms. "I'll fix myself up when I get back to the dorms. You two go make sure everyone else is in class," Seifer ground out. Fujin and Raijin looked at each other in doubt, but nodded reluctantly.

"Return."

"Yeah, we're gonna check on you to make sure you don't expire!"

"Fine, suit yourselves! Just get outta here before you draw more attention will ya?" The two nodded to each other again before taking off in opposite directions. Some of the junior members of Garden started at the sight of Seifer stumbling his way toward the dorms, but from the look on his face, none moved to help him.

**************

A warm Balamb breeze stirred the curtains covering the window in the Garden infirmary where Squall lay recuperating. Stirring, he raised an arm to cover his eyes and thought back to the last thing he could remember. He knew he had made it as far as the front gate, but what happened after? If he were here, under the watchful eyes of Dr. Kadowaki, he must have passed out. Grimacing he realized that he had managed to leave himself in the hands of others again. He would have to be more careful in remembering that the next time he fought Seifer.

Seifer...

He wondered where the blond was at the moment. Surely he hadn't made it back in better shape with a similar injury? Snorting, Squall wondered why he even gave it any thought. Seifer had started the fight, and cheated to boot...he deserved to be left at the mercy of the other Garden members. The Disciplinary Committee would certainly come down a peg if their leader collapsed in front of all the school to see. Squall decided the pain in his head was worth it, if he had managed that.

A soft laugh dragged him away from his thoughts and he turned his head to see a young girl regarding him from behind the privacy glass. She looked awfully familiar, and yet he couldn't place her. She spoke, but he couldn't make much out from the thickness of the glass separating them. She left just as quickly, but he found he was not yet alone. Instructor Trepe stood at the foot of his bed, smiling at him with a mixture of exasperation and amusement. His feat of upping the Disciplinary Committee didn't feel quite as spectacular anymore.

**************

Walking to class was relatively uneventful; anyone who looked twice at the bandage wrapped around Squall's head received a cold glare in return. He knew by the time the Garden chimes rang for the lunch hour, half the school would know what had transpired between him and Seifer. He would just have to see if he could manage to sneak some food back to the dorms before any of the staff could catch him.

Taking the elevator up to the second floor classrooms, Squall walked into his first class and widened his eyes in surprise at the sight that greeted him. Seifer sat in the back in his usual seat, seemingly fine aside from a bright red line marring his forehead. Frowning, Squall walked to his seat, ignoring the startled looks on his fellow classmates' faces. Clearly they hadn't expected _both_ participants of the battle to be back so early.

Sitting down in front of the terminal, Squall looked over to see Seifer smirking at him. It seemed nothing would discourage the blond from troubling him. Rolling his eyes in response, Squall turned his attention to Instructor Trepe who sat at her desk, likely preparing for a brief lecture on expected SeeD behavior before the exam review.

**************

"...And I expect all of you to heed this in future. Seifer, you will NOT injure your partner while training, is that understood?"

Seifer slammed his fist on the desk in answer, so Quistis looked over at Squall. "This goes for you too, Squall. Class dismissed." Squall said nothing, but turned to see Seifer leaving his seat with his usual swagger, students scrambling out of his way.

"Oh, and Squall? You may want to review the console before you leave for the Fire Cavern," Quistis added, ignoring the glare Seifer sent her as he exited the room. Squall groaned and looked down at the panel in front of him. Computers were not his favorite subject, but he had learned to navigate the Garden system fairly well. Logging into his account, he saw an email from a QTrepe. Looking up at his instructor, he found Quistis studying her terminal as well, face unreadable. Realizing he was being ignored purposely, Squall gave her a wary look before opening the email.

There was no message, but two files were attached, waiting to be downloaded. He saved them and then blinked in surprise as a GF he remembered clearly being used by Raijin appeared onscreen. If Quistis had sent it to _him_…

Squall couldn't help but smile. Maybe his run-in with Seifer hadn't been so unlucky after all…

-Fin-


End file.
